Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Welcome to a Tic Tac Titans film breakdown. I'm Tyler Roland, host of the Locked on Titans podcast,
00:05 staff writer for Sports Illustrated over at AllTitans.com.
00:09 The Tennessee Titans offense was ugly in Week 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
00:13 but it is not Will Levis' fault.
00:16 Not only was there a lack of creativity with the game plan,
00:19 along with the conservative nature of the Titans play calling,
00:23 but Levis' teammates also let him down in a big way.
00:26 And when Mike Vrabel was asked about this offensive performance,
00:29 he said, "We had five drop passes, so start there."
00:32 Well, that's exactly where I want to start.
00:34 I have the Titans with six drop passes.
00:37 On this one, we're going to see the Titans run a simple zone beater concept.
00:41 You're going to have Henry go out into the flat.
00:43 You're going to have a sit-down route here.
00:45 You're going to have this tight end, Trevon Wesco, coming inside,
00:48 and it's just meant to find a hole in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' red zone defense.
00:51 Red zone zone defense.
00:54 Yeah, but that is the goal here for the Titans, and Josh Wiley is open.
00:57 You'd like to see Wiley sit down, maybe even a little bit sooner, but he's there.
01:01 He's ready.
01:02 That ball can get to him.
01:03 Now, let me just say this while we're here.
01:06 Why is Derrick Henry's shoulders turned this way?
01:09 I feel like Henry should be here with his shoulders turned to the inside
01:12 so he can catch a pass and get up the sideline if needed.
01:14 So I don't know why it's being coached that way, but hey, whatever.
01:17 Wiley's there.
01:19 Levis rips a pass to him in the red zone to get him down to the five-yard line,
01:22 and Wiley drops in.
01:23 Look at Wiley afterwards.
01:25 That is the universal sign of, "Dang, I should have had that,"
01:28 when you got your hands clenched up like that.
01:30 Like, "Dang, I should have had that."
01:32 And look, this is a contested pass, and this is a tight window,
01:36 but look, tight window, red zone throw.
01:39 I mean, if you look, that ball is there for Josh Wiley to catch,
01:44 and Levis puts the ball.
01:45 Look where Levis puts it.
01:47 High, and the tight end has a chance.
01:52 If he puts it any lower, 45 is knocking that away,
01:55 but because it's up high, Wiley has a chance,
01:57 and Wiley is a 6'6" tight end, so that makes sense.
02:00 He catches that, or you're on the five-yard line with a chance to get a touchdown,
02:05 but there's a drop.
02:06 Now, that's a tough one, but that's a drop.
02:10 This one is not as tough.
02:13 This one hurts.
02:14 So right here, the Titans go with just a basic post-crosser concept, okay?
02:23 Off play action, which it's the Titans.
02:25 We know what they're doing.
02:26 Play action to Derrick Henry.
02:27 Cross post.
02:28 That's an ugly post, but it's a post, I swear.
02:32 And Nick Westbrook-Akene comes over.
02:34 Now, this is a good job.
02:36 Westbrook-Akene, what he'll do is the linebackers get in depth,
02:39 so he's going to cut underneath the linebacker and continue his route out here.
02:45 That's a good job.
02:45 I like a heady play from a former undrafted free agent.
02:49 That's how you stay in the league, but this is a drop,
02:53 and it almost turns into an interception, all right?
02:56 And I don't want to pick on NWI, which it may seem like I'm going to do in this video,
03:01 but he's been wide receiver too for the Titans for a few years now for injuries and blah, blah, blah,
03:12 and the injuries and the lack of talent aren't his fault.
03:16 But think about who's playing wide receiver too and who's getting these snaps for other football teams.
03:24 You see what I mean?
03:25 Think about the other wide receiver twos in the NFL and who's out on the field.
03:29 For some wide receivers who are more talented, naturally, that is a catch and a run up the sideline, okay?
03:35 Now, this one is even more frustrating.
03:38 This is going to be regular play action, Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans play action,
03:43 and then you're going to see basically a double post off of it.
03:46 Now, it's an ugly double post, almost as ugly as my drawings,
03:51 the way that it's actually run and executed because of the defense of the Buccaneers and the press defense,
03:56 but at the end of the day, this is a basic concept,
04:00 and if this wide receiver is not Nick Westbrook-Akene, which again, I'm not trying to pick on him,
04:08 but think about the talent level of NWI, who's really a wide receiver four or five, a depth guy,
04:13 compared to the wide receiver-- like, the Buccaneers have Chris Godwin in that role,
04:18 and we have-- we-- and the Titans have Nick Westbrook-Akene,
04:22 fan coming out heavy there.
04:24 So, play action, Levis has time, and--
04:28 I mean, this is--
04:31 this is wide open.
04:33 This is wide open.
04:35 And if you have a wide receiver with a little bit more speed, which we know NWI isn't a speedster,
04:40 I mean, the separation that you could get there, catch, run, that's a touchdown.
04:44 And I don't know if this is one of the drops that the Titans considered because this is a tough one, again,
04:49 this is a tough one, but these are the inches, these are the inches.
04:53 Look at this ball.
04:54 Moonshot, like, it goes through his hands.
04:57 Think, this is an extra 30, 40, 50 yards, I mean, maybe 70 yards if he catches it and runs to the end zone,
05:05 like a lot of receivers in the NFL could.
05:07 You add that to the PA crosser that he just dropped on the last play,
05:11 you-- I mean, this-- Levis would have been over 300 yards with maybe a touchdown or two
05:18 if the Titans had more talent on offense.
05:20 Again, I'm not trying to hate on NWI here.
05:24 It's just the reality.
05:25 He's not talented enough to get the opportunities that he gets with the Titans.
05:29 That's not where he's best served as a player,
05:31 and it's not where a team is best served as well.
05:34 This one, this is a simple one.
05:36 This is just a drop pass by Kyle Phillips.
05:38 I don't think that maybe necessarily-- I mean, I think the blocking's pretty good right there,
05:42 but the Titans are a terrible screen team, so it's hard to say it would have been successful.
05:45 But again, just a simple, easy catch and throw,
05:49 and Phillips turns his head upfield too quick, and it's a drop.
05:52 You know?
05:52 Frustrating stuff there.
05:54 This is just a zone beater.
05:56 Buccaneers were running zone on early.
05:58 You got a curl here, got a curl here.
06:01 Chig is going to come through, and here's where we get to the Chigaconquo stuff.
06:04 He's going to come through here on the deep in route.
06:07 Okay, and this might be my favorite play of Levis's from the whole day.
06:13 Sad as it is to say it is, because he does all the work.
06:16 This is excellent.
06:17 With traffic around him, goes through, Levis, look.
06:20 Looks outside, checks Tajay Spears, checks the curl, doesn't like it.
06:25 Okay?
06:25 Looks inside to this curl here with NWI.
06:31 Not there.
06:33 Doesn't like it.
06:34 Defenders are on it.
06:35 So who's coming open?
06:36 Chig.
06:38 Okay?
06:39 You need this.
06:40 There's-- this is a 10 yards or more to go situation.
06:45 You got to get close.
06:46 You got to give yourself a chance on the next down.
06:48 This is open.
06:49 Levis comes back to his third read on the play, delivers a great ball with traffic around him,
06:54 and it's a drop.
06:55 The pressure's on him.
06:59 Skowronski's getting pushed back by Vida Veya.
07:01 Great player.
07:01 Raidens is getting pushed back.
07:04 Look at that.
07:04 I mean, him and Raidens are practically back to back.
07:07 There's a guy in his way, and he uses a great arm angle to get that ball out, and it's a drop.
07:14 And look at Chig's reaction here.
07:15 Oh, that's how we feel watching you play football this year, Chig.
07:19 I don't know how else to say it.
07:21 That's how I feel watching you drop the football this year.
07:23 Five drops.
07:24 This one is the saddest of them all, I think.
07:32 So, what the Titans are going to do here is another zone-beating concept,
07:37 because the Bucs were running a lot of zone in the red zone.
07:39 Hopkins is going to come on like a short post, en route, and then Chig is just going to come
07:45 and sit down in the middle of the linebackers and sit in the end zone and wait for the ball.
07:49 This is a quick-hitting throw.
07:51 We've talked and heard about Levis's red zone window throws.
07:54 I mean, this is open in the NFL, ladies and gentlemen.
07:57 Yards of separation.
07:59 This is open.
08:02 This has to be a touchdown.
08:03 It has to be.
08:05 And Levis makes the throw.
08:08 Velocity.
08:10 Boom.
08:10 Not only, not only does Chig not catch the ball for a touchdown on a day when the Titans had no
08:18 touchdowns.
08:19 Right there.
08:21 Right there.
08:24 Honestly, he went too far.
08:27 Should have sat down sooner.
08:29 It's an awareness thing.
08:31 Playing too fast, too nervous, dropping the ball all day because you're playing out of
08:36 control, out of speed, just not in it.
08:38 Head's not in it.
08:39 And this should be a touchdown, and it's not.
08:42 And in the red zone, it's just tough.
08:47 It's just tough to lose those.
08:50 Not only did he not catch it, it's almost an interception.
08:52 Hopkins is able to knock it away.
08:54 That wasn't the only time out of those drops that we just went over that the ball was not
08:59 only not caught, but because it was dropped, it was put in harm's way.
09:03 We saw that a few times earlier on the NWI's first drop.
09:07 I mean, what do you want to do?
09:12 And now I just want to go over a couple of these plays where the offensive line.
09:18 So on this one, we're going to get immediate pressure because Rupcich is beat on a stunt.
09:29 If we go back, we can see it pretty clearly.
09:31 Little twist stunt, common twist stunt from the Buccaneers over here on the right-hand
09:37 side of the screen.
09:38 Vitavea goes over here to pull the guard.
09:40 We get a loop around right here.
09:43 Rupcich, who, why did the Titans call Rupcich up from the practice squad to play guard instead
09:49 of Corey Levin, who's the veteran?
09:51 I don't know, maybe pure center, but I mean, this is beat.
09:54 This is not good.
09:55 Pressure right on him.
09:57 And look at that.
09:58 I mean, who is throwing the football in this?
10:00 And what are you going to do?
10:02 And you're down and you're trying to make a play and you're trying to do something to
10:05 help your team.
10:06 So you're trying to drive the ball down the field like your coaches want and you're getting
10:10 smoked.
10:11 But that's Levis's fault, right?
10:12 That will Levis, bad throw, right?
10:15 I've seen it.
10:16 It's ridiculous.
10:17 On this one, there's a guy in his face.
10:18 He's trying to throw a seam route.
10:21 I mean, either of those seam routes to Wiley or Kyle Phillips, you might be able to hit
10:25 them, but not like that.
10:28 And I mean, great blitz call by Tampa Bay.
10:32 You're going to see it on this angle here, bringing Antoine Winfield and Devin White
10:36 from the left hand side and Spears is only there.
10:39 But the question becomes, is it Levis who isn't sliding the protection to that blitz?
10:44 Did he just not know?
10:45 I mean, this is tough.
10:46 I mean, Todd Bowles defense and the blitzing.
10:48 I mean, it's tough, but trying to drive the ball down the field, guys open and you're
10:55 just literally getting punched in the mouth.
10:56 21 pressures, 47 dropbacks.
11:01 Been hit top 15 in the NFL in just three games.
11:06 When the rest of the NFL has played eight.
11:10 I mean, this he is literally Dylan Radin's getting driven into Will Levis's legs as he's
11:15 trying to throw.
11:15 Who can throw a football accurately in the NFL when their legs are getting driven out
11:22 from behind them by your left tackle?
11:25 What are you going to do here?
11:28 This is just a complete collapse.
11:29 Rubsitch gets beat immediately.
11:31 Again, Corey Levin, the veteran, why is he not playing?
11:33 Beaten right away and then beaten right away on the left side too.
11:38 So it's just a double crunch sandwich for Will Levis.
11:42 Welcome to the NFL.
11:43 Good luck, partner.
11:44 I think Levis has shown-- in my opinion, Levis has shown us the talent that we need to see.
11:54 He's shown the big arm.
11:55 He's shown the ability to command the offense.
11:58 He's shown the ability to layer throws the last few games.
12:01 He has done a good job when he even has a shred of opportunity to do so.
12:06 And people who are talking about, "You never gave Malik Willis these sort of excuses."
12:09 When has Malik Willis ever done anything even remotely close to what Will Levis did against
12:15 Atlanta?
12:15 When has he ever looked remotely that good, ever gone through his progressions that way?
12:20 To say that the Titans didn't give Malik Willis a real chance
12:23 and Will Levis is being treated differently is patently absurd, quite honestly,
12:30 and it's void of any football intelligence at all, if we're honest.
12:34 And, to me, it goes past football intelligence.
12:37 It's intellectually dishonest, is what it is.
12:39 So I'll say that.
12:42 Also, Tannehill-- did you give Tannehill the same excuses?
12:46 Tannehill doesn't have the ability to even survive this far.
12:50 So, Levis gives the Titans a far better chance just because of his pop and his mobility and
12:54 his youth to even have a chance to get some of these passes off,
12:57 like we've gone over in the last few weeks.
12:59 So, again, my final point, don't blame Will Levis.
13:05 This is terrible.
13:06 The stuff around Will Levis right now is doing nothing to help him.
13:11 It's actively trying to harm him, in my opinion.
13:14 And, you know, don't let this--
13:18 don't let, you know, box score scouts try to make you not as excited for Will Levis
13:23 as you should be going forward.
13:24 But, with that being said, check out the Locked on Titans podcast,
13:28 Monday through Friday, each and every day, breaking down Titans content.
13:32 Free, always.
13:33 And then check out all the writing at alltitans.com.